


never mind a world with its villains or heroes

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: hold my hand (i can hear the ghost calling) [7]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Drabble, Family Fluff, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Sam Wilson-centric, Team as Family, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-02-01 19:50:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12711783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: If Howard Stark was still alive, Sam would be rubbing it in his face, sayingLook at this. Look at what a great man your son becamedespitewhat abuse you put him through.





	never mind a world with its villains or heroes

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from e.e.cummings.

Daddy never hit him. Momma never screamed.

Compared to the childhoods of his friends (save maybe Clint), Sam's was pretty boring. Pretty nice. Nothing worth talking about.

Except, to him it was. Tony clearly agrees, if he insists on visiting Sam's family and begging Momma for photos.

Watching Tony with his family, watching him dote on Georgia and Ayana and Jason, helps Sam feel like the world is finally giving back to a man who never knew love.

Sam’s nephews and nieces love their Uncle Tony unconditionally. It’s really gratifying to watch Tony get so much love and attention, especially after everyone who’s hurt him. His father was abusive. His mother never stuck up for him. Jarvis, the only adult who cared about him, died when he was a teenager. Steve betrayed him.

Ayana, Georgia, and Jason love Tony. Georgia, who wants to be a doctor over all else, thinks her Uncle Tony is the  _ coolest thing ever _ . She doesn’t care about Iron Man- she cares about  _ Dr.  _ Tony Stark, with his two doctorates in Mechanical Engineering and Astrophysics. Every time they’re over, Tony is bombarded with questions about doctoral programs. 

(And the girl’s only  _ eleven _ .)

Ayana loves her Uncle Tony’s goatee and glowing heart. A tenacious five-year-old, the girl constantly goes after Tony, chasing him around until he ‘loses’ and she tackles him. She loves to tap on his glowing chest, her young mind trying to puzzle out how Uncle Tony’s chest is so  _ shiny. _

The way Tony’s face lights up when he plays with Ayana, when he discusses science with Georgia, is satisfying. If Howard Stark was still alive, Sam would be rubbing it in his face, saying  _ Look at this. Look at what a great man your son became  _ despite  _ what abuse you put him through. _

-

So Sam’s Daddy never hit him. Momma never screamed.

Sam knows Tony’s father left bruises, both on his body and heart. He knows Tony’s mother was a delicate woman who let stuff like that happen.

He knows something in Natasha is missing, that the years she spent in Russia hollowed out something important. He knows Clint ran away from home at a young age, that he spent years drifting as a carnie.

Laura was taken advantage of as a carnie at the same circus. Bruce became a raging monster. Thor was cast out of his home.

Sam swears he will never be like Howard Stark. He will never hurt his spouse, or hurt their children. (Yeah, they don’t have any yet, but Peter Parker kind of counts and at the rate Tony’s going Sam’s pretty sure that they’ll collect more orphans soon. Sam’s okay with this. No, he’s more than okay- he actively encourages it. No kid deserves to live without a family.)

He will never hit his children. Tony will never have to scream.

The tower is the home of their family, strange and crazy as it is. The Avengers and SHIELD, the Wilsons and the Bartons. An ever-revolving series of people, lovers and cousins and friends and coworkers. A team of family members who do not hurt each other.

This is Sam’s home. Everything from the mornings waking up next to his husband, Tony’s quiet snores echoing through their room, to afternoons sparring with Natasha and Clint, to evenings with the whole gang chowing away in the kitchen and living room, shouting over each other and chowing through mountains of food.

This is their family, their team, their home. This is what Sam and Tony have built together. It’s not conventional, it’s not anywhere  _ near  _ normal, but it’s theirs.

The only hits are in training. The only screams are during Friday night horror movies.

Sam could not feel better anywhere else.


End file.
